Big internet things
I'm consistently surprised when things that appear to be in the collective conscience of society still haven't quite crossed the threshold and instead remain in relative obscurity.  The easiest example is any video from YouTube that has more than say 100 million views.  Ask the average person if they know what the fox says, and chances are they won't know what you're talking about.  Granted, a lot of this depends on your view of the average person.  If you're a teenager, your view of "average" is probably one of your teenage friends.  While in reality, average is probably a 40-year-old white mother from Ohio.  Regardless, there seems to be a delay or an impediment between certain things gaining widespread notoriety (e.g. Gangnam Style) and other things remaining popular but not universal.

Circle of poop
Rabbits eat some of their own poop, sort of like how cows chew cud.  It seems weird, but it's not only normal, it's essential to their survival and their bodies depend on it.  Whenever I see my rabbit eating his poop, I say it's the circle of life.  Which is funny, because that's not what that means.

Reddit, I get it
I've known about Reddit for a long time now, and I've browsed it on occasion but was always overwhelmed by the frequency of updates and sheer volume of content.  But just recently I figured it out:  Reddit's value lies in its user base.  The website is simple enough:  It's essentially a forum where users post things and other users comment.  One of the things that helps the community at large is the ability to upvote and downvote each and every comment, as well as the nested comments that make it more of a discussion.  But by far the most important aspect of Reddit is that its users tend to be a little more intelligent than the average internet citizen.  There are still childish comments and personal insults, but there's also deep insight and links to information that backs up opinions.  Instead of a typical web forum, Reddit is like a web forum of people you know, or at least people you'd like to know.  There's personal depth, sort of like real life.  It's really cool stuff, and I'm surprised it took me this long to figure it out.

Sports injury reporting language
Something I've noticed for a little while now is how injury reporting during and after sporting events uses strange language.  They say things like, "This person is out with a hamstring," or "Coaches say that person is dealing with a shoulder."  The "injury" part is implied, but it still sounds weird to me.

Crack mayor
The mayor of Toronto admitted to smoking crack while drunk, and this was apparently a sufficient excuse in his mind.  I've tasted alcohol.  I've experienced some of its effects.  I've done things I've later regretted while under its influence.  But I can't say I've ever done any drugs (or committed any other felonies) and passed it off as an acceptable by-product of alcohol-impaired logic.

Thermoelectric effect
An Ecofan is a small metal fan that sits on top of a wood stove or other heating element and provides low-speed air movement to aid in spreading heat around a room.  It literally generates its own electricity via the thermoelectric effect, which is a well-understood method of generating voltage with a temperature difference.  It's essentially magic, and it's awesome.

Euler's identity
Euler's identity is a mathematical equation that goes like this: 
e + 1 = 0
The reason this is significant is because it's a simple equation that contains five of the most fundamental and important concepts in math.  See?  Math is purdy.

Lone gamer
I enjoy me some video games, but I feel like I might be the only gamer on earth who doesn't play well with others.  A major selling point of many modern video games is that there's a huge online community where you can link up with other gamers and play with or against them.  Many people do this and enjoy it.  I do not.  I don't like people, and I don't like playing games with people.  I'm a sore loser, and that doesn't appear to be changing as I get older.  So I'll continue sitting on my couch, playing my non-networked video game console by myself, and enjoying it.  Thpbdpbdth.

Look good, feel good
I'm coming around to the idea that looking good can lead to feeling good. 

A friend bought an expensive pair of Nike golf shorts, and I asked him if they made him any better at golf.  His reply was that he looked better, so it felt like he was playing better.  Kind of a joke, but also kind of true.

Workout clothes are the same way.  Sometimes the prospect of looking good in your new workout clothes will make you want to work out.  As trivial as that is, I say use it to your advantage.  If you want to work out more, buy new clothes.

Seeing atoms
I learned recently that the reason an atom can't be seen with a typical microscope is because the diameter of an atom is around 0.5 nm, while the wavelength of visible light is more like 500 nm.  Light waves (and all other waves) won't reflect off anything that's too much smaller than their wavelength, so light simply passes around an atom.  That's why different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum must be used to sense incredibly small things like atoms.

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